Dissolved oxygen is important in many industrial applications including, for example, hydroponics, aquaculture (i.e., aquafarming), and the treatment of groundwater.
Hydroponics is a process for growing plants (such as, flowers and vegetables) in a nutrient aqueous solution (i.e., a “soil-less medium”), rather than in soil. The nutrients are distributed to the plants through water. A major advantage of hydroponics is that the roots of the plants have constant access to oxygen, and as much or as little water as needed. The presence of oxygen in the root zone is essential for healthy plants. In this respect, the growth rate and overall health of the plants are directly related to the amount of dissolved oxygen present in the nutrient aqueous solution.
In fish farming, aquariums and aquatic animal management, oxygenation of the water is important to enhancing the growth of the fish and marine animals. Moreover, the oxygen destroys any biological contaminants in the water. These biological contaminants may arise from excess foodstuff and from the fish and marine animals.
Well water is commonly used as a residential water supply. However, well water frequently contains undesirable concentrations of iron, arsenic salts, and hydrogen sulfide, due to very low concentrations of dissolved oxygen. Adding oxygen to the well water can reduce the concentrations of these nuisance materials. In this respect, oxygen dissolved in the well water reacts with the inorganic salts, forming insoluble iron oxide (Fe2O3) and arsenic (V) oxide, which can be filtered out. Hydrogen sulfide, which can be a problem in hot water heaters, is also oxidized by the dissolved oxygen.